With reference to FIG. 1, massage machines generally comprise a chair body 10 including legs 11, a seat 12, a backrest 13 and a pair of opposite armrests 14, 14, and a massage mechanism 2 having a plurality of therapeutic members 21 and incorporated into the body 10. The therapeutic members 21 are reciprocatingly moved up and down while being vibrated, whereby the human body is massaged.
The massage machines of the type mentioned include one which is adapted to detect a stiff body part before giving a massage so as to massage the most appropriate part concentrically [JP-A No. 9-75413(1997)]. This machine is capable of giving a massage concentrically to the stiff part of the user.
However, the conventional machine is unable to detect the psychological state of the user such as “comfort” or “pain,” is therefore unable to detect whether the condition of the user's health is improved by an effective massage actually given to the user, and further has the problem of failing to give an effective massage for realizing an enhanced degree of relaxation or increased refreshment.
Accordingly, a massage machine is proposed which is adapted to detect physiological quantities (relaxation indicating factors) of the person to be massaged, such as pulse, skin temperature and galvanic skin response (GSR), for controlling a massage mechanism in accordance with the degree of relaxation of the person [JP-A No. 6-209(1994)]. In giving a specified massage to a particular part, the massage machine is capable of detecting the psychological state of the user by monitoring variations in physiological quantities of the user, so that an effective massage can be performed to realize an increased degree of relaxation or refreshment.
Massage machines give different kinds of massages, such as tapping, kneading, combination of these movements and rolling, to a plurality of parts such as the shoulder, back, waist and leg. Different parts massaged and different kinds of massages given produce different variations in the physiological quantities of the user. When massages are given to various body parts, variations in the skin temperature or GSR of the person massaged are detected, and the psychological state of the user as given each massage at a particular part is detected based on the variation.
However, a sufficiently high correlation is not always available between the psychological state detected by performing a certain massage by the conventional machine on a particular part of the user and the psychological state subjectively explained by the user. Consequently, the machine has the problem of failing to give effective massages.